Joan Canino Ryther. The Logan woman's body was found just 100m from McDonald's, where she was due to start work at 9pm on Tuesday night. Source: Supplied

LOGAN murder victim Joan Ryther is believed to have been bashed and sexually assaulted, and police have confirmed she was pregnant.

Addressing a media conference today, Detective Superintendent David Hutchinson said: "At this stage I can say the victim did sustain some blunt force trauma to the head and we are of the view she was sexually assaulted. The post mortem is not completed at this point."

Blood was found on the opposite side of the street to where her body was discovered.

Asked if that was where she was initially attacked, Insp Hutchinson said: "We haven't established that at this point in time."

Late this afternoon husband Cory Ryther arrived at his Mayes Ave home with detectives.

The house remained sealed off as police continued investigations into his wife's murder.

Police said he had been cleared to return to the weatherboard and brick home and was expected to stay there the night. Officers were conducting a final investigative search and were due to soon leave the property.

Mr Ryther was visibly upset as police left his property. He picked up his cat, said goodbye to detective and walked back inside his home. One officer left the property carrying a computer hard drive. The police crime scene tape had been removed from the front of his home. He declined to comment to media.

Queensland Fire and Rescue Service officers check rooftops in Leichhardt St, near the murder scene, for evidence.

Ms Ryther came to Australia from the Philippines around 2009, met her husband in 2011 and they married last year.

Her husband's car was seized and their home searched as "normal procedure".

"Any investigation of this type we would look at their premises, we would look at their car," Insp Hutchinson said.

He added: "He has co-operated with us and at this stage he's not listed as a suspect."

At this stage there were no suspects, he said.

"We currently today would have up to 40 investigators and intelligence officers and that's in addition to all the forensic police and uniform police who are out searching the area at the moment. We have a very large task force working on the job."

A car was stolen from across the road from Ms Ryther's home on the night of her murder.

"That's obviously one of our avenues of inquiry."

Date/Time: 2013:05:22 21:39:30

Residents should take the usual protective measures for their safety, he said.

Police are yet to hear from any witness who saw Ms Ryther walking to work.

Insp Hutchinson appealed for anyone who saw her walking around 8pm to 10pm to come forward.

"At this stage we haven't had anyone come forward who's actually seen her," he said.

"That's important for us to try to fill in the pieces.

"We would really like to hear from anyone who may have seen her walking along either Mayes Ave or Leichhardt St between 8 and 10 o'clock.

"The clothing she was wearing at the time was long dark trousers, a green-blue long-sleeve zip up top and a black McDonald's cap. The top covered her McDonald's uniform.

"Secondly we'd like to hear from anybody who may have been walking along Leichhardt St at any time throughout the night who may have located the McDonald's cap and potentially moved it.

Police continue their investigations into the murder of Logan woman Joan Canino Ryther, who was found only metres from her workplace yesterday morning. PIC: Mark Calleja

"There's no issues with doing that but for elimination purposes we would like to speak to anybody who saw the cap and potentially moved the cap to the location it was when we found it."

The cap was found on top of a fence in Leichhardt St.

Police also wanted to talk to a sobbing man in a yellow top who went to a Mayes Ave house on Tuesday night and asked to be let inside, as reported by The Courier-Mail today.

Anyone in the vicinity of a rotunda at Mayes Park on Tuesday was also asked to come forward.

He confirmed Ms Ryther was due to start work at 9pm on Tuesday. Her husband was at work until after 9pm, he said.

Her husband had reported his wife missing around midnight and had since been co-operative with police, he said.

"As you would expect the husband under these circumstances was distraught."

At 1.25pm, it was reported that residents of a home where the body of Joan Ryther was found were watching a horror movie inside on the night she was murdered.

Police investigate the area where Joan Canino Ryther's body was found at Logan yesterday morning. PIC: Liam Kidston

The trio of friends had just hired the DVD from a nearby store and may have missed Ms Ryther by only minutes.

Robert Kamu and his two housemates returned from getting DVDs just before 8.30pm.

Ms Ryther was due to work at the McDonald's restaurant a short distance down the road at 9pm but never made it.

"We walked around to Blockbuster around 8pm. We came back to try and make my mate's partner's program, the Kardashians, at 8.30pm," Mr Kamu, 27, told The Courier-Mail.

"She watched that and we watched movies all the way until 12am.

"We watched this horror called V/H/S."

He estimated they returned one within five minutes of the start of the Kardashians, which runs for an hour.

"We just made the Kardashians," he said.

"We didn't hear anything.

"We have dogs all over the street. But not a single one barked."

At 12.30pm, it was reported that the husband of murdered woman Joan Canino Ryther was at work at the time she would have made her way to start her 9pm shift at McDonald's Logan Central.

The Courier-Mail understands Cory Ryther's movements have been accounted for.

Mr Ryther, a chef, was not due to finish work until 9.30pm.

After staff at McDonald's raised the alarm, Mr Ryther joined a group of her colleagues in searching the neighbourhood for his missing wife.

They gave up at 6am, having driven the street where her body was found several times.

Mr Ryther was questioned for more than eight hours yesterday in what was described as normal procedure.

Logan District Detective Inspector Chris Jory said this morning police were yet to identify any suspects in relation to Mrs Ryther's murder after her body was found partially clothed in the front yard of a Leichardt St home early yesterday.

Two men were seen drinking in a nearby park between 4.30pm and 6.30pm, and one neighbour told of seeing someone running near the same park about 8.30pm. They also heard a woman shouting in what they thought was Chinese.

One woman and her young son, who live 200m from Ms Ryther, were interviewed by police for several hours after a crying man came to their front door asking to be let in.

"It was about 9pm, we were all in bed," she said.

"My son said there was someone at the door. I heard some noise, it could have been crying - it was weird.

"I peeked out and saw a man sitting on the chair."

The woman, who did not want to be named, gathered her children into her bedroom and called a friend for help.

"I wasn't sure if he was drunk but I didn't want to aggravate him, so I didn't yell out to him," she said.

"He was there for about 20 minutes. He was gone by the time my friend arrived."

Residents reacted angrily to what they described as "another murder" in the suburb.

Locals said the park near Ms Ryther's home was a known trouble spot, home to drug deals, fights and constantly littered with broken bottles.

The victim's devastated friends said it was beyond belief that someone could attack such a defenceless woman.

Jeffery King said he used to socialise with Ms Ryther a couple of years ago when she and his ex-girlfriend worked together at McDonald's.

"She was always the most sensible person in the group," he said. "It's really shocking.

She was the one who would be cleaning things up at a party and making sure everyone was OK.

"A lot of people come here and stay with their own culture - but Joan got out there and adopted the Australian culture and the Australian people quite quickly."

Ms Ryther's Facebook page showed her as a hopeless romantic who was ecstatic about marrying her Canadian boyfriend in October last year.

"Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep," she wrote in one post.

Colleagues paid tribute to her on social networking sites, describing Ms Ryther as a cheerful woman who always made them laugh.

"You were probably one of the nicest people anyone could possibly meet," one wrote.

"It's disgusting what some people can do - especially to someone so harmless."

Another grieving friend appeared to be part of the group who spent the night searching for Ms Ryther.

"RIP to my beautiful baby girl who taught me right from wrong when I started working with you three years ago," she said.

"You are a wonderful friend and my prayers are with your husband and family at this tragic time.

"Sorry we didn't find you earlier."

Mr Ryther, a chef, was questioned for hours yesterday and his car forensically tested in what police said were routine inquiries.

Police said they want to speak to anyone who saw Ms Ryther on Tuesday night.

"We are unable to say at this stage what the cause of death is," Detective Superintendent David Hutchinson said. "We will certainly be pulling out all stops to find out what happened."

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